Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Delivers Green VLCC

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) has completed building a scrubber-equipped Very Large Crude oil Carrier (VLCC), the first of two ships ordered by Greek shipowner Almi Tankers in August 2016, reported the Pulse.

The affiliate with South Korea's largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) said that the VLCC is fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system that can meet stricter restrictions on sulphur oxide emissions that will come into force in 2020.

HSHI on Tuesday held a naming ceremony for the oil tanker. The 310,000-ton VLCC - which is 336 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 30 meters deep - is loaded with various facilities in the rudder and propeller that help improve energy efficiency and is also installed with a scrubber that reduces harmful emissions such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides that are regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The gas scrubber installed on the vessel is 11 meters high and 8.3 meters wide, and cleans the exhaust gas with seawater to remove sulphur oxides. By using this equipment, sulphur oxides in the exhaust gas emitted by the ship can be reduced to less than 0.5% from the existing 3.5 percent, claimed the company.

The Korean shipbuilder expects the successful construction of the environmentally-friendly vessel would help it move ahead of its rivals in the global green ship market. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries is also building world’s first liquefied natural gas-fueled oil tanker for Russia’s shipping company Sovcomflot after it won the order in February last year.